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Cheers
Give a Cheer
Give a Cheer
On my first morning in Beijing, December 31, 2005, it snowed. I watched families playing in the snow on theplayground beneath the Yang’s apartment.
Then I went to the bank with Xiaoqing to exchange traveler’s checks for Chinese Yuan. The first bank that we went to would not do the exchange and they sent us to the bank at the University of Culture and Language.
We had to ride a bus to get there and I had no money, so I had to borrow from Xiaoqing.
It was hard to find the bank at the university and when we did, they told us they would
not do exchanges that day because they were doing year end processing.
We could come back tomorrow, and maybe they would do it then, or maybe we would have to wait until January 2nd.
They didn’t seem interested in my problem, which I found frustrating. I had $450 US in traveler’s checks, which should have been plenty, but
it would do me no good until I could convert them into Chinese currency.
The thought of not getting any cash for several days was very distressing to me. I feared it
would restrict my activity and force me to borrow from my hosts.
I also feared my hosts might tire of me if I
became a burden. Xiaoqing loaned me 400 Yuan, the equivalent of $50US. I was not able to make a currency exchange until January 3.
After the disappointments at the banks, we went to Ruifuxiang Silk Company where I thought I could purchase fabric with my credit card.
We selected some expensive fabric, but they turned down my credit card, because American credit cards do not have pin numbers (but they did not explain that, they just refused to take it.
I had been frustrated so much that day I had
to soothe myself by eating a big bowl of noodle soup!
Created digitally, using PSP 9, Photoshop Elements 2.0, and digital scrapbooking files (like Ekits) from Cottage Arts.
No products have been added to this project.
Thanks for spreading positivity!
October 17, 2006
August 26, 2006
August 26, 2006